Take Me Away
by Iemitsu-Sachi
Summary: Kakashi reluctantly agrees to breed his nin-wolf, Sasuke, with a female nin-dog named Sakura. But instead of warming up to Sakura, Sasuke falls for her human owner, Naruto. And Sasuke will do just about anything to turn himself human for him. SASUNARU.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: We don't own Naruto, if we did, Karin would be dead, Itachi would be alive, Naruto and Sasuke would be married with many Uchiha children in a nice cottage next to a beautiful blue lake on the mountains where they reproduce like bunnies and populate their own country named the Hidden Village of The Uchiha-Uzumaki.

**Pairings**: Future SasuNaru and KakaIru.

**Warnings**: Yaoi, shounen ai, ooc-ness, bad writing style, bad grammar.

"Talking."  
_Thinking._

A/N: There will be NO SasuSaku in this fic, it will just be one-sided! WE DO NOT LIKE SASUSAKU!

* * *

Things were a little slow and quiet this morning. Only a few people roamed through the streets and markets looking for food to buy for the day. Shops and stores were just opening, ready for business, while people were getting ready to begin their jobs. People lazily made their way to their food stands and prepared themselves to greet costumers.

Iruka-sensei looked around the stands of fish, looking for something to cook for dinner. He had to go to work at the Academy at eight o'clock sharp, which meant he had forty-five minutes to decide on the groceries. He always woke up early to buy fresh food before departing to the Academy and teaching his students. He preferred to have the food ingredients ready to cook, before going home and having a nice relaxing dinner. Besides it was less hustle buying dinner in the morning than after school when more people crowded the streets and markets.

Before he could find his favorite type of fish, Iruka spotted silver hair across the street.

After a few seconds, he recognized the figure as Hatake Kakashi, the ex-Anbu captain, mask-user and with mismatched eyes, and also his lover. The same man who stood him up the night before!

The brunet waited three hours for this man to show up last night for a relaxing, romantic dinner that Iruka went a lot of trouble to make. He had hoped that Kakashi would call and give an explanation to his tardiness, but he received none. Iruka tried waiting longer, but the man never showed up! He eventually fell asleep on the couch with the lights still on, the dinner table still set with cold food.

So many different emotions filled him at all once. Anger because his lover left him waiting for hours and he spent so much time and effort cooking just so it would go to waste. Sadness because said man probably was already tired of him and his temper, and that's why he stood him up. And finally, concern because something may have happened to Kakashi to prevent him to come.

But here he was, shopping for large amounts of fish like nothing happened, talking to the stand owner quietly. Iruka wasn't going to let him get away with this. He was going to approach the man, ask him (or more like demand him) to tell him where he was and then give him a piece of his mind.

And Iruka did just that.

He approached the man whose back was towards him and currently trying to haggle the owner of the market stand for a much better price.

"Kakashi!" Iruka called him out to the jounin who didn't seem to hear him. The silver-haired man continued to argue with the stand-owner.

_You are not ignoring me Kakashi Hakate!_

"Kakashi!" he yelled louder, a few people passing by threw the chuunin a few weird looks. But at least the silver-haired man heard him and slowly turned around to come face to face with his lover.

"Ah, hello love," the scarecrow said dully, but his only visible eye brightened at the sight of his lover.

"Don't 'hello love' me! Where were you last night?! Why didn't you come? I waited for you for four hours!"

The silver-haired sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry about that, something came up so I had to stay at home."

"Doing what? No wait, I don't think I want to know," he stopped the other from answering. Iruka never thought that Kakashi would ever cheat or lie to him.

"It's not what you are thinking, Ruka. I had to stay at home because Sasuke wasn't feeling well," Kakashi said, using the same soothing voice he used to calm his lover down and has so far has worked well.

Iruka wanted to believe him, he really did. But how could Sasuke get sick? He was the most perfect and indestructible killing machine in the ninja community. He might as well become his own team if it weren't for the fact that he was a nin-wolf.

"Of all of your excuses, Hakate, this one takes the price!" Iruka began to walk away.

With quick reflexes, Kakashi grabbed the brunet's wrist and turned him back around.

"Iruka, I'm not lying." he calmly said, looking straight into his eyes.

"Sure, what is it this time, the flu?" Iruka sarcastically said.

Kakashi frowned. "He's in heat." He said bluntly.

Iruka didn't know if he heard his lover right. "What did you say?"

"He's in heat."

Iruka's eyes widened. Was it really that time already? He could remember Kakashi rescuing the pup from starvation after his entire family was slaughtered like it happen just yesterday. Itachi, Sasuke's brother, was suspected and accused of their death. But because there wasn't any real proof, he was shipped to another country were he would be taken care of by someone else.

Now the wolf pup was nearing his first heat?

"You better not be lying to me Kakashi."

The silver haired man frowned. "I'm not making this up. Last night I tried to give Sasuke a bath, but when I pushed him into the bathtub, his eyes turned red and he attacked me. I had to lock him up in a cage with a seal. Nin-wolves in heat tend to become extremely aggressive towards other dominant males and sometimes even dominant females."

Taking a good look at the masked man, Iruka gasped at the state the other man was in which noticed just about now, since he was too preoccupied about the fact that he was ditched. Kakashi's clothes were wrinkled and messy while his face and arms were covered with long scratches. His left hand was wrapped with an already blood-soaked bandage. The masked man also looked tired, stressed but mostly worried.

Iruka's eyes softened. He gently grabbed the other man's face with both hands and pulled him towards him. Kakashi eagerly accepted the affection but only wrapped his right arm around Iruka; he didn't want to smear blood on him by using his left arm too.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi. Why didn't you call to let me know what was going on?"

"I couldn't leave Sasuke alone. He almost destroyed my apartment!"

"I see… well what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Sasuke right now?" Iruka questioned him.

"He was sleeping when I left. I figured that buying his favorite food would calm him down a little."

Iruka thought for a minute. Kakashi's nin-wolf was useless to him in this state. Kakashi needed Sasuke to track and fight his enemies, but now Sasuke could possibly attack just about anyone including his master if the pain from his heat got too bad. Nin-wolves experienced constant pain during their first heat, making them irritable towards everyone. The pain acted as if it was a tidal wave, one minute Sasuke could be helping his master, the very next he could attack him. The ebb and flow was simply unpredictable.

Suddenly an idea hit him. If Sasuke was in heat why not just get him a mate? One of his ex-students owned a female nin-hound. And it was no secret that just about every shinobi with a female nin-dog wanted to Sasuke to pick their dog as his companion and mate. Surely his ex-student would help if Iruka asked.

"Kakashi?" sometime during his deep thinking, the jounin had slipped behind him and wrapped his arms around the brunet.

"Mmm?"

"Have you thought about breeding Sasuke?" Iruka inquired.

Kakashi remained silent, so Iruka continued.

"One of my past students owns a female nin-dog, and I think she might be interested in Sasuke."

Kakashi rolled his visible eye; all female nin-dogs were interested in Sasuke, which is why the wolf stayed indoors when not in a mission.

"Listen, she is a very special nin-dog. She has amazing healing abilities and good chakra control. Try to consider this as an option, Kakashi."

Kakashi stared into his lover's chocolate eyes and nodded although reluctantly. He couldn't help but have a bad feeling about this. He should've warned Iruka that Sasuke couldn't stand females, whether they were human or not.

--

Naruto Uzumaki dodged another hit from his friend, Kiba. So far he wasn't doing well. Kiba kept attacking him with the Gatsuga, not giving Naruto a chance to try his new jutsu. To make matters worse, Akamaru, Kiba's nin-dog, kept attacking from behind. The little dog would go to Kiba's aid whenever his human companion needed him, sometimes turning into a clone for distraction. But Naruto wasn't about to give up.

By the time the fight was over, Naruto was panting and grinning widely at the same time.

"We won Sakura-chan! We won!" he hugged his nin-hound fiercely. Sakura was a cute medium sized, soft pink colored Labrador with white in her stomach, legs, and muzzle.

Her best abilities were healing and chakra control, so she could only do so much in a fight. Every once in a while she would help Naruto by biting his opponents or throwing weapons at Naruto whenever he needed them. Her intelligence and loyalty were her best features in Naruto's opinion. Along the fact that she sometimes acted as a mother to him, always barking at him if he made a bad choice like risking his life during missions. She was also one the only ones that pushed him to pursue his dream of becoming Hokage.

Naruto gently patted the soft fur on her head making Sakura wag her tail and bark happily.

"We won Sakura-chan! We beat that stupid mutt!"

Kiba growled. "Hey, you can't call Akamaru that!" the little white dog barked in agreement.

Naruto grinned cheekily. "I was talking about you."

--

Getting ready to work, Sakura began healing her master's injuries from the fight, while Naruto relaxed in the grounds. Kiba and Akamaru approached them.

"It must be both an advantage and disadvantage of having a nindog that can heal but cannot fight as good as other hounds," Kiba stated.

Naruto just shrugged and patted Sakura on the head. She nipped his hand as if scolding her for disrupting her concentration.

"I could care less about what others think, and to be honest with you, I think I'm pretty lucky to have Sakura as my companion," the blonde responded.

After a couple more minutes of healing, Naruto and Kiba split up.

"Let's go eat some ramen!"

Sakura barked then growled.

"No ramen?"

Sakura barked twice, her way of saying no.

"Uhmm, then what? I would really like some barbeque pork ramen, but what do you feel like eating?"

Before the pink-haired nin-dog could answer, a man in his twenties with brown hair and eyes approached them.

"Hey Iruka-sensei! Long time no see!"

The teacher smiled warmly at his ex-student. Time has really gone by if this sixteen year-old almost reached him in height.

"Naruto, we saw each other three days ago."

"Well yeah, but you haven't treated me some ramen in two weeks!"

Iruka chuckled, but when Sakura barked in laughter, he quickly remembered what he was supposed to do.

"Naruto, I wanted to speak to you about something." Naruto and Sakura listened closely.

"Kakashi wanted me to invite you and Sakura to his house Friday night for dinner."

Naruto thought for a minute. He has met Iruka-sensei's lover before, but he didn't know why he would invite him for dinner.

"Ok, but why me? Shouldn't he invite you instead?" he smirked teasingly.

Iruka blushed slightly but continued.

"Kakashi's nin-wolf, Sasuke, will be going on his first heat soon and we were thinking of introducing him to Sakura, with your permission, of course."

Naruto paled and blenched at the idea. He has heard many things about Kakashi's wolf. Apparently he was the only one of his kind, besides his brother. The wolf was responsible of helping thousands of people with Kakashi. There was also a rumor that he was personally trained by Orochimaru from Sound. He was priceless and nearly every female nin-dog wanted him. He was ready to say no thanks, but he noticed that Sakura perked up her ears and wagged her tail eagerly at the name of Sasuke. She looked up at her master and stared him, knowing full well he would not be able resist for too long.

Naruto sighed remorsely and agreed reluctantly, Sakura licked his hand in thanks.

"Fine, but if that bastard dares to harm her, we'll leave."

--

"Listen Sasuke, I think this will be the best for you!" Kakashi said while he hid behind the couch.

Sasuke had nearly ripped him to pieces when he found out Kakashi had set him up with a nin-dog, a female for god's sakes! He didn't even ask for his opinion or his permission to do this!

Sasuke snarled and growled, he picked up a kunai with his mouth and threw it with perfect accuracy.

Kakashi dodged. "You don't have to do anything if you don't like her! Calm down Sasuke!"

The wolf's eyes bled red with anger as he howled.

_Damn you Kakashi, I just want to be left alone, _the wolf thought.

Kakashi seemed to have understood him like always. "I know you just want to be left alone, but it won't kill you to find someone you can take care of and can take care of you in return."

After a couple of minutes, Sasuke seemed to cool down a bit.

--

That particular Friday was excruciatingly warm and humid. It was so far the hottest spring afternoon of the year. The scorching temperature caused for most people outside to stay in their homes and away from the sun.

Iruka was in Kakashi's kitchen helping him deep fry vegetables and fish; he also prepared some ramen to appease his student, who probably didn't eat anything else but ramen. Although Kakashi was capable of cooking, Iruka could only trust him to boil water and make coffee, so he was in charge of that.

Finally there was a loud knocking on the front door.

"Kakashi! They're here!" Iruka called out.

Kakashi took a deep breath and proceeded on opening the door. There stood a glum Naruto and a happy Sakura. Kakashi blinked, looking baffled. The very few times he had met and seen Naruto, the young chunnin always looked cheerful and in high spirits, but now he looked like he really didn't want to be there.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei." Naruto greeted the teacher unenthusiastically.

The silver-haired only nodded back and stepped aside to let them inside.

"Hello Naruto, Sakura. How are you guys doing?" Iruka came and greeted them as well.

"Fine, Iruka-sensei." Naruto responded, Sakura wagged her tail and licked Iruka's hand gently. Iruka smiled and patted the dog softly.

"Well dinner should be ready in a couple of minutes. I made your favorite type of ramen."

Naruto's face brightened.

"RAMEN!! Hell yeah!"

Both Iruka and Kakashi chuckled. Now that's the Naruto they knew.

Sakura barked once to gain their attention.

"Ah, yes I forgot all about it. Sasuke! Come here and meet our guests!" Kakashi yelled loudly.

Naruto held his breath in anticipation, while Sakura wagged her tail in excitement.

Finally, a black wolf came into the living room. Naruto's blue eyes widened, he was huge!

Indeed, the wolf's shoulders came all the way to Kakashi's waist. His jaws were big enough to cover entirely the head of an adult human and rip it off with just a bite. He wore a Konoha headband around his throat and bandages on his front legs with an uchiwa symbol on each.

Sasuke walked towards them and sat by Kakashi.

Sakura attempted to come closer to him and sniff his nose like most canines do, but backed away in fear when the other growled and bared his teeth.

"Sasuke don't be like that!" Iruka scolded, Kakashi inwardly hopped his wolf wouldn't attack his lover.

But the wolf just simply stared at his master's mate. If he could, he would've rolled his charcoal-black eyes, he was used to Iruka's face expressions ever since he was a puppy.

Besides his size, Naruto wasn't entirely impressed, or at least that's what he kept telling himself.

"So what's the big deal with Sasuke? What makes him so special?" Naruto asked, putting his hands behind his head.

Sakura sighed. _Did he have to ask it like that?_ _Now Sasuke-kun is going to think that I have an idiot for a master!_

Silence filled the room, except for a few soft whimpers coming from the pink-hair dog.

"Ahem, Sasuke is an excellent fighter and of course, tracer. He has an amazing ability called Sharingan, which allows him to anticipate and see the enemy's attack. He is also the last of his kind, except for his brother." Kakashi explained, breaking the silence.

Naruto frowned and moved to inspect Sasuke closer. Roaming his blue eyes over powerful shoulders and muscles, Naruto wondered if Kakashi ever rode on Sasuke's back. As much as he hated to admit, the wolf looked quite strong.

Although the black wolf still refused to acknowledge Sakura, he threw a couple of glances at the blond human next to her. He was different than most of the humans he had met before. Sun kissed blond locks that fell on his forehead covered part of his headband. The chuunin vest fitted well with is orange-clad attire which brought out his eyes, sapphire blue eyes that seemed to glow with warmth and joy. A nice earthy smell of trees and forests came from the boy as he crouched closer to Sasuke.

The wolf's eyes widened when the human reached out to touch his muzzle, Sasuke's first instincts was to growl and bite the offending hand. Lurching forward, he opened his jaws wide and bit, to his complete surprise, nothing but air.

Naruto ignored the wolf's attempt of ripping his hand off and instead patted the huge muzzle. He was amazed when he found that the blue-black fur was as soft as Sakura's, perhaps even softer.

_Kakashi must really take good care of him_.

Again the onyx-colored wolf growled at the close proximity of the boy to make him back away and regain his personal space. He snarled and showed his white, long fangs.

_Back off, damn it!_

However, Naruto stood firm and called the wolf the first word that came into his head.

"Bastard."

* * *

Another story, YAY! Anyways, hope you'll like this one as well.

As you can tell, in this universe, nin-dogs and nin-wolves cannot speak to their masters but they can certainly help with the fighting, which brings me to the next point. Yes there will be SasuNaru but no, there won't be anything like bestiality. But Sasuke will find a way to be with Naru-chan no matter what!

And yes, we do realize that this is very cliché.

And again, there will be NO SasuSaku in this fic!

Please Review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: We don't own Naruto.

**Pairings**: Future SasuNaru and KakaIru.

**Warnings**: Yaoi, shounen ai, ooc-ness, bad writing style, bad grammar.

For the humans:

"Talking."

_Thinking _

For the canines:

"_Talking."  
_

* * *

The air swiftly became pregnant with an amorphous, icy killing intent and spread viciously throughout, not just the room, but the entire humble home.

The cause of the thick and uncomfortable ambience was grinning hard enough to appear demonic, not caring about the serial danger he had put himself in. It wasn't the crap-I'm-so-in-trouble type of danger, that would be used well in a situation when you get caught doing something you weren't supposed to. This was more like I'm-gonna-get-beat-up-so-bad-my-descendants-are-going-to-feel-it type of danger. And yet, as the deep bear-like growls erupted from the enormous wolf, Naruto's blue eyes seemed to shine in excitement.

Nobody moved or made a single noise, heck, they could hardly breathe, as if the noise alone could break whatever was left from Sasuke's patience and attack the brave, but very stupid, chunnin and shake him brusquely like a rag doll.

Kakashi placed a hand on the back of the wolf's neck, right on top of the headband. It was just for precaution, Sasuke looked ready to move closer and snap the other's head off his shoulders.

If looks could kill, the still crouching blond would've already turned into ashes or probably melt in a puddle of orange and yellow goo. Although, Iruka probably wouldn't be too pleased about that, not only was the stupid blond his favorite student since the Academy, but he was also a neat-freak.

The forgotten soft-pink Labrador reared her ears back and whined. _Oh Naruto, why do you have to be such a dimwitted jerk?_ Remorse and grief already filled her chest at the mere thought that her owner won't be making out of this situation alive.

Every breeder of Konoha knew that the last thing you want to do is mock or insult a nin-hound during their first heat. Since their bodies were overdosing now with testosterone, violent pains would shudder inside them, breaking even the most pacifist creature and turning him into an aggressive and vicious animal.

Kakashi inhaled deeply though his nose, his mask never bothering him in the action. He slowly turned his head to see his scandalized lover looking more horrified than angry at his student's words.

"Naruto! Back in the academy I could not beat out that scurrilous attitude of yours, but at least back then, you had the decency to sort of behave when the time called for it!" the scholarly man began to turn an angry red due to the shouting. "But look what has become of you now! Cursing in someone else's home while you are a guest!" Iruka panted at the end of his scolding.

Using his free arm, the jounin encircled the other man's shoulders. Feeling just a tad bit guilty that he was enjoying himself at the expanse of his wolf's frustration and his lover's rage. But he knew they must have been a strange sight. Himself pulling his lover close to his chest, while his other hand was grabbing the collar of his snarling nin-wolf. He felt so… what was it that the kids call it these days? Ah! He felt so pimp!

Naruto pouted, still squatting. "Aw Iruka! You make me feel like the villain here! But you forget that he," he said, pointing his thumb dangerously close to Sasuke's muzzle. "was rude to his guests first." The blonde-haired chuunin stood up from his crouching position, still ignoring the angry waves the wolf emitted. Naruto's grin was almost big enough to split his face in two.

The top of Sasuke's muzzle wrinkled into a snarl. The muscles of his jaws twitched as he tried everything in his power not to bite that bronze-skinned thumb just a few inches away from him.

_You dumbass! I'm going to rip that empty head of yours and keep it as a trophy! _He growled fiercely.

Iruka ignored his student's comment, no matter how true it was. "Perhaps we should start dinner now?" he smiled hesitantly, patting Sakura's head, who appreciated the effort to change the subject by licking his wrist. "I made delicious biscuits for both Sasuke and Sakura-chan, but I only had enough ingredients to a make a few."

He smiled hopefully at the two canines. "Be sure to share with each other, ne?"

Sakura's tail began to wag enthusiastically, hitting her owner's leg with soft thumps.

Naruto frowned at his ex-teacher's obvious intent on match-making, but followed him to the kitchen. He could already smell the tempting scent miso ramen, waiting oh so impatiently for him.

He patted Sakura's before saying, "Don't let that cheap stud sweep you off your feet with his polite manners and sociable attitude," he said sarcastically, smiling cheekily.

The female dog cocked her head cutely and heat-butted his leg as if to say, 'You are such a brute, Naruto!'

They all, except the two ninken, moved to the kitchen. Iruka, not so subtlety, threw deliriously proud glances at them, as if he was watching his kid go out on his first date for the first time.

At that, Naruto resisted the urge to turn and save his cute Sakura-chan from the evil wolf. But every time he began to stand up from his seat, the school teacher would throw him a glare to prevent him from interrupting their quiet time. So now, he was glued to his seat, waiting for any signs of discomfort from his nin-hound and glancing over the two canines every three seconds.

And Kakashi, the poor jounin looked like he wanted to die. His stomach churned and did cart-wheels along with other aerobics at the horrifying pain Sasuke would put him through later. The silver-haired man just knew that as soon as their guest stepped out of the house, the wolf would pounce on him, rip his flesh and gnaw his bones until as he was satisfied. He just hoped Sasuke wouldn't be evil enough to damage 'important equipment'.

But Sasuke had ignored everyone the entire time, only showing small hints of discomfort when his owner and his friends left. He grunted and lay down, wearily closing his ashen eyes. Sakura padded over to him and sat a few inches away from the black mass.

Iruka arrived, carrying a big round tray. "Here they are," he said. "I'll just leave it right here." He smiled cheerfully, putting the tray down in between them. The said tray was filled with bone-shaped biscuits with a light dressing dripped on the top, warm from coming out of the oven just a few minutes ago. It seemed more like those fancy desserts you get in expensive restaurants rather than dog biscuits, but that's just how Iruka was, always spoiling his loved ones.

"If you guys need us we'll be in the kitchen."

Sasuke let out a mocking snort, as if he couldn't track their scent-

His owner's mate interrupted his cynical thoughts. He seemed to do that a lot. "I mean it, if you get those pains again come and get us, alright?" Iruka wagged a finger and turned back to the kitchen to serve both Kakashi and Naruto as well.

As soon as the brunet wasn't looking, the wolf nearly rolled his onyx eyes and huffed at the man. He was rather used to his adoptive parent's protective behavior towards him, so he rarely took him seriously. He only liked to cuddle with him and receive free belly rubs, even though he was getting rather old for that.

Sakura lay down hesitantly next to him and sniffed at the bone-shaped, steaming biscuits. _"How's everything Sasuke-kun?"_

Grunt. _"Fine."_

The uncommitted response made her lower her eyes. _"That's great, I thought that you would be uncomfortable because of the, well, you know…" _

Sasuke cringed, turning away quickly.

"_A-are you okay though? You know, I'm from a long breed of medics, and I know the pain is natural and all, but…" _She shyly twitched her ears. _"M-maybe I could help soothe the pain for you," _she promptly added, _"I mean with my chakra of course!" _If she could, the female dog would have turned the color of a ripe tomato.

"_Right, because I'm not used to soul-eating stabs of pain by now," _he growled. _"The pain is nothing compared to what I've gone through in past missions. Besides,"_ he continued._ "The pain is just temporary." _

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes.

"_I'm sorry about my master; he can be quite a clueless moron sometimes," _she said before thinking for a minute. _"Well maybe, most of the time. So, please forgive him, Sasuke-kun, he just doesn't know you well!" _She wanted to add 'yet' after that but she thought that it would just make the nin-wolf more uneasy.

He laid his head down in between his paws, his nose right in front of the biscuits, yet he couldn't form an appetite for them now. _"Who is he?" _He never saw him during training or when he went out, but then again he hardly left the safety of his home.

Sakura perked up, glad that her owner, and life-long friend has been forgiven. _"He's a chuunin as you can see. He passed the Chuunin Exam when he was thirteen and recently, his been training hard to take the Jounin Exams. He had me since I was pup; one of his friends from the Sand Country suggested he should get a nin-hound to aid him." _

At Sasuke's cold, but questioning look she elaborated, _"He used to get in trouble all the time! He was known as a devious prankster and always got reminded by the elders that he's-" _Her eyes became large in alarm, as if she had said something she shouldn't.

The midnight-black wolf looked bored, but he had caught her mistake. Not to mention he could smell fear and sadness from the she-dog. _"He's what?" _he asked irritably, not sure why he cared to know, or why he was humoring the female by asking.

"_Um… that he's a little… different?" _she nervously said.

"_Yes, he seemed quite odd when he first came in."_ Sasuke could recall that the overly cheerful human smelt different from others, like Kakashi and Iruka. The scent was familiar yet natural and foggy with a hint of a wild mint that was only found deep in the forests. Most humans smelt like rainwater and perfume, nothing special about that. The chuunin was also giving a certain aura as he came close to him and patted his muzzle. It was peculiar and foreign, sort of like Sasuke's and Sakura's aura.

Sakura now wished her (hopefully) soon-to-be-mate wasn't so clever, she could practically see the wheels turning swiftly inside his mind. Though, she was content to have him talk to her more. The wolf never liked socializing with anyone, and Sakura considered herself lucky to keep a conversation running with the isolated Uchiha.

But she needed to change the subject, soon.

The nin-dog nervously drifted her eyes between him and the end of the hall where the kitchen was; as if she was expecting a blond scalp peeking out of the room like an angry, bald-headed father spying on his daughter and her date.

"_Um… well, Sasuke-kun, just out of curiosity, are you planning to mate this month?" _She asked in a tiny voice.

Sasuke had to twitch his ear to her direction. Why were females loud one minute then quiet as a mouse the next? He mentally shrugged, that's why he couldn't stand females. Their loquacious attitudes just simply seemed to confuse him, annoy him, and frustrate him.

She pressed on, proving Sasuke's earlier thought true._ "Maybe you just want to think it over, I mean, wolves mate for life, right? That's why you haven't chosen anyone yet. You're waiting to the right one to show up." _

"_Yes, we mate for life, and to answer your first question, maybe." _He deadpanned and he bit back a yawn as he stood up. He was pissed because of the intolerant pain, which he hadn't had in a while, Sasuke noticed and thanked whatever entity was out there. There was only a relatively short hiatus between them, which only seemed to annoy the nin-wolf even further.

All he wanted was to sleep the day off and he couldn't do that when the she-dog's propinquity made him feel claustrophobic.

The massive wolf shook himself a little to snap himself awake, and paced over to the kitchen, leaving the smaller canine still lying on the floor. As far as he was concerned, he was done playing nice host.

Sakura watched him leave, looking forlorn but just a little relieved. _Well, at least he said maybe. There might be a chance after all_, she thought and wistfully ate a biscuit from the untouched tray.

---

Naruto nodded, genuinely serious. His blue eyes became a dark azure during the conversation. "Alright, I made my decision, Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei," he said, nodding at each man sitting next to him.

Iruka widened his eyes. "Y-you did? Don't think that you should at least give it a little bit more thought?"

The other man, Kakashi made a noise of agreement. "You can make your decision after a couple of days, and then you can tell us what you think."

"No!" Naruto protested. "I told you, I thought everything over, and made my decision."

Suppressing a sigh, the brunet tapped the kitchen table with his index finger. "You must think this through, you can't decide with just one moment, don't let your emotions get in between-"

"Iruka-sensei, I'm not letting my emotions decide for me 'kay? I'm not a child anymore."

The jounin crossed his arms. "So what's your verdict, judge?" he asked sarcastically.

The atmosphere darkened, as if it too, waited impatiently for the boy's answer.

Naruto looked thoughtfully at his empty bowl of ramen. "I have decided that Iruka's ramen is better than Ichiraku's. I think I just died and went to heaven!"

Kakashi's eye crinkled in a happy arch. "That's exactly what I said when my mouth was first graced with a taste." Iruka nearly choked at the implied innuendo, knowing that the masked-man wasn't talking about the ramen.

The mood suddenly became lighter.

Blushing, Iruka scratched the scar on his nose, a nervous habit. "Thank you Naruto, it means a lot coming from you," he told the ramen-obsessed boy. "Now, about Sakura and Sasuke, have you made _that_ decision yet?"

"Eh? Why? I thought I had days to think about that one."

Sighing, Iruka replied, "Sasuke's heat will officially begin on the next full moon."

Naruto counted his fingers. "Hey, that's four days from now! And you actually expect me to decide before then?" he asked, frowning deeply at the thought of letting her cute Lab breed to that blood-thirsty, psychopathic mutt.

"Sasuke is a pureblood," Iruka said as if reading his mind. "And Sakura likes him! I'm sure she wouldn't mind the long-lasting relationship."

That didn't help Naruto's worry. "What if he hurts her? She's so tiny compared to him. I mean for the Hokage's sake, her head is practically the size of his paw!"

Kakashi brought up a hand to assuage the panicking chuunin. "If Sasuke agrees to become her mate, he would rather be tortured and de-furred than to hurt his mate. Besides since he is the last of his kind (except for his brother, Iruka intervened), the pups that come from the relationship will be well taken care of and be worth as much as a small apartment building, like the one you live at!" he unhelpfully added.

Naruto's eyebrow rose all the way up his hairline. Was that perverted jounin making fun of his small, but cozy home? Sure, even Sakura-chan whined at him to save enough money to move to a nice apartment. He knew though, that both he and his dog were way too attached to their home to leave it.

Iruka decided to intervene, before Kakashi screwed up (more).

"Listen Naruto, you don't have to decide now. If you want to, you can take all the days until the next heat." He stomped in his lover's foot before he could protest. The silver-haired hardly wanted to endure Sasuke's bitchy attitude for another month, but agreed to stay silent with a saddened pout. Iruka was almost just as bad as the wolf when his anger rose. "But I just want to let you know that, you can't protect Sakura forever. You will eventually have to find her a partner to take care of her like you have since you got her."

Naruto smiled blissfully. "Yeah I can still remember when I had to train her to piss outside when she was a puppy," he reflected on the happy memories when Sakura could fit nicely on his palms, with clumsy oversized paws and uneven red-pink fur. His dog was quite an ugly duckling when he first had her, but he proudly saw how his Sakura grew into a beautiful, graceful canine. Well, maybe not graceful, she was too macho to be femininely graceful.

"That's what we mean! We both want Sasuke to have someone to care about and share his life with. Someone who will understand the loneliness he has known and everything he is going through, not to mention share his passion of becoming a powerful nin to avenge his long dead pack." It was heartbreaking really, how the entire Uchiha pack was coldly slaughtered, leaving a small young wolf pup howling in agony that was slowly killing him inside out.

That seemed to have quirked Naruto's attention. He played with his crystal blue necklace, the one that his father left him before he died. "But why does it have to be Sakura-chan?"

Kakashi took the opportunity to take over. "You're missing the point. It's not about sacrificing Sakura to the job of taming the beast. Hell, if it turns out Sasuke chooses some other partner we'll be just as content. We could care less who it is as long as both parties are pleased and happy."

Naruto ignored the gut-wrenching feeling in his stomach and closed his eyes, signing deeply. "Fine, but if one of them disagrees with the mating, it's over, okay?"

Both men nodded.

As if trying to convince himself, Naruto nodded as well.

"What do we do now?"

"We should take this slow. How about we all walk together to the park, I'm sure that'll be a great bonding experience for all of us."

Kakashi surpassed the urge to roll his visible eye. "I can't go, I'm supposed to have a meeting with the Hokage, something about a new mission or something," he carelessly said, waving a hand in dismissal.

Eye twitching, Iruka suspiciously asked, "And when exactly did that meeting start?"

Naruto cheerfully noted how the other man paled and seemed to shrink away from the enraged, pony-tailed chuunin. Ha! A jounin afraid of a measly chuunin!

"I was supposed to be there an hour ago, actually," the silver-haired man said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Get. Out."

_A very terrifying chunnin._ Naruto thought.

"But Iruka, what about-"

"Get out now or you'll sleep on the couch!"

"But-"

"For a year!"

A poof of smoke clouded the small kitchen. Naruto grinned before closing his eyes as he broke up in loud sniggers and chuckles. "Man Iruka-sensei! You have that broom-head wrapped around your finger! It's like matching a round of table tennis, or maybe in your case it would be a round of baseball," the blond nin said, winking at a genuinely confused Iruka.

"Why baseball?"

Sigh. "Because you're the catcher and Kakashi is the pitcher!" he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Naruto, Kakashi and I don't play baseball together; we're too busy these days."

Feeling that their roles have reversed, Naruto sweat-dropped. He was sure Iruka-sensei wasn't that naïve; he was dating the second most perverted man in Konoha, after Jiraiya of course. He was bound to learn something someday.

Before Naruto could elaborate, using more obscene terms, a peeved Sasuke entered the kitchen quietly, except for the soft clicking noises his long claws made when he walked on the wooden floor. He wasn't usually this noisy, but the stubborn pains stopped him from caring about that little detail. At that moment, the nin-wolf threw all of his shinobi training out of the window.

He curiously looked at the two humans before walking over to Iruka, who beamed and softly touched the enormous muzzle with the back of his hand, ruffling his thick fur.

Naruto's widened. Sasuke ignored the touch but didn't pull away or bite, he didn't even appear threatened. He was probably well accustomed to being treated like a cat by the brunet.

"Sasuke?" Iruka called out.

The wolf looked up and let out a loud breath through his nose, sounding a lot like snort, though softer.

"Did he just woof?" Naruto asked, already amused and trying not to laugh.

"That was a chuff, Naruto. Wolves are the only animals besides tigers that do it (1). Except in the tiger's case it is called prusten," Iruka explained. "It means he's content."

"That's kinda… cute! It makes him look less blood-thirsty and evil."

Sasuke stared offended at the chuckling human, ears lifted and pointing forward. His body posture became ruffled and tense, his tail flicking quickly. Iruka noticed, and patted his fur to keep the annoyed ninken from growling.

"Naruto and I decided we should all go to the park to spend time together, unfortunately I'm too busy to go. I had forgotten that I had to grade some papers from my students. So you'll be alone with Naruto and Sakura, okay?" he calmly told Sasuke.

The wolf looked even more peeved than he was. He hunched his shoulders as his gaze shifted back to the blue-eyed blond sitting in front of him, looking just as surprised as he was.

"I- Iruka-sensei," he whispered. "You never said anything about being alone with him!" he pointed at Sasuke, who was still staring at him calmly watching how the late evening sun shining through the window lit up the boy's hair and reflected back a golden-yellow color. It's not like he was fascinated with the human, it was more like he couldn't look away from the practically glowing boy, and his hideous orange attire made it harder to take his sight off of him.

"It'll be for just a few minutes, Naruto. There's no need to dramatize."

"What if he goes psycho on me? Or Sakura-chan?"

"He wouldn't hurt you nor Sakura, right Sasuke?"

The wolf almost seemed to smirk, and Naruto could have sworn he was given a 'I'm so going to dice you in little pieces for the bastard comment' look.

Naruto glared at him and stood abruptly. "Fine! Bring it on; I can handle this guy for a few hours. And you'll see, we'll _both_ come back in one piece!"

Sasuke opened his jaws, his eyes momentarily tainting red before flickering back to onyx.

_I don't know about you dobe. But I'm not planning to keep that promise._

* * *

(1) This is half-true. Wolves do soft noises through their nose that sound like woofs. But wolves and tigers aren't the only animals that do this cute sound. It really does mean that they are happy.

Reviews:

_DamagedPastBroken_- Goodness! What a nice review! Thank you! Most reviews would say to update as soon as possible, but you went past that. Not everyone tells an author to take their time.

_NoiNoi_- Thank you so much! We'll try to get the next chapter up soon!

_Strangers have the best candeh_- No SasuSaku! We can't stand it either, so don't worry. There will only be small hints and it will be mostly one-sided. Naruto is the only one for Sasuke!

_JuMiKu_- err… no, this wasn't inspired by fanart. We just thought that this type of plot was common out there. Thanks for your review!

_Beckysue904- _Actually there are some stories like this, except both Sasuke and Naruto are hybrids. Do you mean those?

_Creasias_- lol! Sasuke looking like Padfoot? That's not really the image we wanted to point across, but it's still quite hilarious! Though, Padfoot looked like an Irish Wolfhound in the fifth movie except he was black (?).

Thank you! We loved all your reviews! Hopefully, this chapter was worth the wait, probably not because it's too short. We apologize in advance for the few mistakes that escaped our obsessive revising. Well, nobody is perfect. Please review!

-Iemitsu-Sachi


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